Ragtime in Ragtime
Ragtime is a genre of music like no other. It has a distinct connection to the time period in which it was popularized. It is also significant to the themes of this story, as ragtime was typically music for the poor. It was not "elite" or "refined". Evidence of this is that ragtime sounds the best when played on old out of tune pianos, which was all many poorer families could afford. Just like we see when Coalhouse Walker performs for the family, more specifically Sarah, for the first time. The melodious chords rang out even more because of the added character from the lack of tuning. When we listened to the sample in class, the music sounded a bit corny and lacked luster, because of how well-tuned the piano sounded. However, if you listen to recordings online of ragtime played on very old rustic pianos, there is so much more soul to the music. This book is about class separations and inequalities. However, this book is not at all about ragtime. Ragtime is just in ...